


No Place Like Home

by LameRamen



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Abused Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Abused Deceit | Janus Sanders, Abused Logic | Logan Sanders, Alternate Universe - Family, Alternate Universe - Foster Family, Alternate Universe - Human, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Logic | Logan Sanders Are Siblings, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders Has Panic Attacks, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders Needs a Hug, Caring Logic | Logan Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders Are Twins, Family Bonding, Fluff and Angst, Good Parent Morality | Patton Sanders, Human Sides (Sanders Sides), Human Sleep | Remy Sanders, I'm Bad At Summaries, I'm Bad At Tagging, Kid Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Kid Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Logic | Logan Sanders Is A Good Friend, Logic | Logan Sanders Needs a Hug, Morality | Patton Sanders Tries, Morality | Patton Sanders is a Sweetheart, Parent Friend Thomas Sanders, Parent Morality | Patton Sanders, Protective Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Selectively Mute Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Single Parent Morality | Patton Sanders, Sleep | Remy Sanders is a Good Friend, Teen Logan, They’re getting better, teen Janus
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:28:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26271142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LameRamen/pseuds/LameRamen
Summary: Patton is a single father of two sets of brothers, having just adopted the two oldest a few months ago he worries about adopting another into the family so soon, as they aren’t fully settled in. Will it mess with the precarious balance Patton’s created and cause chaos? Maybe, but he has his friends to help him out and hopefully it all works out in the end.
Comments: 17
Kudos: 89





	1. A New Family Member?

**Author's Note:**

> For clarification, Patton adopted the twins when they’re were babies, and Logan and Virgil just a couple months ago. 
> 
> I apologize if this doesn’t make sense.
> 
> Warnings?: Brief mentions of past child neglect? Its not in detail, just acknowledged.

Patton had adopted two sets of brothers. 

One was a set of twins named Roman and Remus, and the other a quiet kid named Virgil and and young teen named Logan. 

He’s had the twins the longest, and has had Virgil and Logan, only a couple months. 

Roman and Remus are five, with Remus being about five minutes older. 

Virgil is eight, and according to the social worker has a bit of developmental delay, but Patton doesn’t think it’s exactly what they say. Logan who’s grown up in the same environment Virgil was raised in, _and basically raised the boy himself,_ says it’s more likely anxiety because he hadn’t really noticed a delay. 

He also said he taught him sign language, which is incredibly impressive considering the teen had to learn it himself first. 

He didn’t see Virgil sign until over a month of living with him, and it had progressively gotten more common, and as a plus, Patton’s learned some of it.

Virgil had started making noise at three months, and the first time he’d laughed was a big moment for Patton. 

He almost wished he’d laughed at something other than Remus falling face first down the stairs, but Remus seemed okay after some fretting and cleaning of a busted lip and Virgil seemed to be warming up a little.

Now he’ll say full on phrases, blunt sentences, and talk normally around just them, but Patton’s concerned now about how he’ll deal with Patton bringing another teen into the family. 

This one is older than Logan, seventeen while Logan is only fourteen, almost fifteen. 

He’s had a troubled past and basically needs somewhere to stay until he’s old enough and in a secure enough state to get his own place.

Patton hopes with so many younger children that he will get along okay, he’d like to think he’s done an okay job raising his kids so far.. But he can’t help but worry it won’t work out. 

He has faith though, and he’s already told them there’s going to be another family member, and it’s been positive so far, but he can’t be completely sure about Virgil or Logan, he just doesn’t know them as well yet. 

Patton’s good friend Thomas should be coming over soon to help set up the new room, and he’s currently helping the children make welcome cards for the new family member, since the twins don’t have a huge concept of time and have been asking if Janus arrives continuously for the past three days. 

He figured giving them something to do for him would satisfy their little minds for a while, and be a fun activity. 

“Remus sweetheart, we don’t know if Janus likes blood.“ Patton masks his alarm with a wary smile. 

“You’re right..“ Remus mumbles, then abruptly claps his hand down onto the dinning room table. “I’ll draw him an angler fish!“ He decides. 

Figuring it’s better than gore Patton leaves it be, knowing Remus doesn’t have that same filter to sort out what is and isn’t acceptable and doesn’t really understand those sorts of boundaries.. 

They’re working on it. 

“Good idea kiddo!“ He encourages. “What are you drawing Roman?“ 

“A castle! Because our house is really cozy like a castle, and I think Janus will like it.“ He states proudly, waving a red crayon in the air before he continues coloring in a vaguely castle shaped block. 

“That’s sweet.“ He smiles. “Virgil kiddo, how about you?” 

Virgil turns his paper, folded like a card he holds it so Patton can read it. 

_I hope you will like it here. Pap’s real understanding._

_-Virgil_

_P.s. I like spiders, do you?_

Virgil’s handwriting is heavy but surprisingly readable, and there’s a few doodles of spider webs and an admittedly cute spider near the top right. 

Virgil’s drawing makes them look much cuter than the creepy things are, but he can appreciate the sentiment and the little peer into Virgil’s mind. 

“That’s thoughtful kiddo, good job.“ He ruffles the kid’s hair, and Virgil smiles a little sheepishly, setting his paper back down to continue drawing on the front. 

“Logan?“ He asks, winking playfully, and knowing very well he’s been writing for the past fifteen minutes. “What’d you draw?“ 

Logan huffs amusedly, skimming over his paper again. “It’s a little introduction, but I’m unsure if it’s adequate..“ 

Patton hums. “You want me to proof read it for you?“

Logan nods, pushing up his glasses as he hands it over, fiddling with his pen. 

Is small page wishing Janus a warm welcome and talking about how open the environment is, which, Patton is surprised Logan picked up on half the stuff he has, even if he shouldn’t be. It’s written with too much understanding from someone of Logan’s age, and Patton sincerity hopes Janus will at least take some of it to heart. 

“It’s perfect Logan, I bet he’ll appreciate it.“ He hands it back, and Logan folds it neatly into thirds like a letter. 

“It’s something I would’ve benefited from before moving here.“ He admits. “I aim to help make Janus feel as comfortable here as you have me.“ He adjusts his glasses again, a repetitive motion he seems to do to compose himself. 

“Aw, Lo! I’m glad you feel comfortable here, and I have hopes Janus can feel the same at some point.“ He pulls Logan into a side hug. “I’m proud of you. All of you, for wanting to help make him at home here. “ 

A knock at the door interrupts the moment and the twins hop up with a cheer of, “Thomas!“.

The visitor is tugged over, and shown the cards the twins have been working on. 

Patton’s pleasantly surprised that Remus’s drawing has grown into more of an ocean environment, granted with a few creepy looking deep sea creatures he’d learned about from some documentary on tv, and a couple feeding sharks, it’s still cute. And Roman’s has come along as well, there’s now a garden surrounding the castle and a drawing of each person to represent someone in the house hold, and apparently the one picture Patton managed to get of the teen was enough to earn him a stick drawing from Roman’s truly. 

Thomas nods along but glances up at Patton for some context. 

“We’re making welcome cards for Janus.“ He explains. 

“Ah, theses are very good, boys. “Thomas ruffles both the boys hair. “I’m sure he’ll adore them.“ 

After some more talk from the twins, Thomas sets his bag off to the side, shedding his coat. “I’ve got the furniture you asked for, we just need to get it set up before Friday right?” 

Patton nods. 

“Alright,“ He leans on the table beside Virgil, who’s coloring in what looks to be an eye on the front of his. “Whatchya got there Virge?“ 

Virgil pauses for a moment, before opening the card so Thomas can read it. 

“Nice job, that real considerate buddy!“ He grins. “And that’s a cute spider there.” 

Virgil flips it closed so he can continue drawing on the front. 

Logan’s is last, and Thomas is impressed by the sheer amount of understanding in the thing, and similarly to Patton thinks Janus can benefit from it. 

Patton has them put them in envelopes, writing Janus’s name on the outside and who it’s from. 

“How about we clean up here, then we can help Thomas move in some stuff for Janus’s room okay?“ 

The twins cheer, racing to see who can pick up the most markers and Logan nods, collecting the scissors and other tools while piling the loose papers neatly.

Virgil is playing safe guard apparently, fastest when the bottle of open glue gets knocked over by Roman he rights it before any even has a chance to spill and yanks away the container of plastic beads when Remus grabs too quickly and almost knocks it off the table. 

“Slow down you two, you could make a bigger mess trying to clean up the one you have.“ Thomas warns. 

“Nice reflexes kiddo.“ Patton hums, taking the glue to put back in the craft box Virgil searches for the bead lid. 

“You kinda need good reflexes around these two speedsters.“ Thomas chuckles. “Make sure the markers go back into the box nicely, so you can use them easier next time.“ 

“Oh.. That kinda makes sense!“ Roman mutters. 

Remus hums happily, putting the last handful of his back into the plastic tote, and making sure they lay properly. “Ha, I win!“ 

“By one marker!“ Roman huffs. “That’s not very many.“ 

“No, but it’s still one marker.“ He grins. 

Roman puffs his cheeks, but sighs. “Alright, you may win this one brother, but I will defeat you next time!“ He states, pointing a finger at his twin dramatically. 

Remus twirls his hands in the air, glaring playfully. “You can try as you might brother, for thy will vanquish you firstly!“ 

Then starts a game of chase, with a Roman giving a giggly war cry as he runs after Remus. 

Patton smiles at their antics as he sets the craft box up. “So just how heavy is all that stuff?“ 

Thomas shrugs a little. “I mean, the two of us should be able to get the desk and bed frame up there.. Me and Remy moved it on our own.“ 

“Okay but.. Stairs.“ He points out. 

“That’s the thing.“ Thomas winces. “It shouldn’t be any harder than Logan desk though right? At least this one isn’t put together yet.“ 

“You didn’t bring the dolly? “ 

“No... I lended it to Joan and they have yet to give it back.“ He mutters. “But if we need it we can always give them a call, you know them, they’d drop anything.“

Patton nods. “Lets see what we can do on our own before we do anything like that.“ He catches Virgil signing to no one in particular out of the corner of his eye, and not recognizing the first one he turns his attention fully to Virgil. 

“I’m sorry can you repeat the first one? I missed it.“ 

He signs it again, but it still doesn’t click. 

It looks like the sign for make, but his bottom fist isn’t turning, with with the other signs ‘visiting’ and ‘soon’ the context clues aren’t enough. 

Virgil picks up on his confusion and points to Logan. 

“Uh Lo, what’s the first one mean?“ 

“I believe that was the sign for coffee, which is the sign Virgil uses for Remy.“ 

“Oh,“ Patton chuckles. “Is Remy visiting soon? I dunno kiddo, he might visit a couple days after Janus settles in..“ 

Virgil seems satisfied with the answer, heading off into the house somewhere, Logan follows. 

“ Virgil and Logan’s cards, “ 

“I know, there’s so sweet!“ Patton hums. “I also know what you’re thinking-“ 

“That you’ve done a great job with them? Patton, they’ve jumped around six different homes and out of them you’ve been better to them over a couple months than some have in a year.“ He states. 

“Ah, well.. I try. I’m still not perfect.“ He rubs the back of his neck, remembering his mistakes and learning curves that didn’t go so well. 

“No one is Pat, but you’re just about.“ Thomas chuckles. “You’re doing great.“ 

“Thanks.“ Patton smiles sheepishly. 

~ 

They manage with the two of them, and Logan helps carry some of the other stuff. 

They put the furniture together and Patton sorts out the room while Thomas gets the kids ready for bed. 

He’s just finished corralling the twins into their bunk bed when Virgil comes up to him, fidgeting with his hands. 

“What’s up storm cloud?“ He doesn’t know much sign, but enough to usually grasp what he’s saying. A lot of it depends on context clues, though. “You want something?“ Then again, Virgil knows this and tends to only sign simpler signs.

He shrugs a little, hands falling to grip the edge of his pajama shirt. 

Hmm..Maybe he wants to say it out loud? “Hm, you wanna follow me down into the kitchen so you can tell me?“ Sometimes Virgil just needs a little time to work himself up to asking something, and standing silently seems less helpful then letting him build up the courage while doing something casual. 

He nods once, and Thomas nods back, starting down the stairs, Virgil follows. 

Somethings bothering him, Thomas recognizes the same look he’s sported many times himself. 

“Do you want some tea?” He asks. 

Virgil signs yes, climbing to sit at the island and resting his head in his arms. 

Thomas goes about making Virgil and himself tea, choosing chamomile since it’s the only one without caffeine and Virgil has enough trouble sleeping. 

He heats the water in the microwave, setting up the infusers with the right amount of dried chamomile and pouring the water over, the next five minutes is weirdly silent since the air conditioning kicks off. 

He takes the infusers out after the five minutes, sweetening his and Virgil’s drinks with honey and taking the stool next to him, handing him his cup with a muttered warning of it being hot. 

Virgil stirs it to cool it faster, and it’s silent for a little longer before he finally gains the courage. 

“Is Pap going to change?“ 

His voice is so soft and quiet, it’d easily be swallowed up if it wasn’t for the silence.

“People change all the time.“ Thomas answers. “But if you mean because Janus is moving in, then probably not.“ 

Virgil meets his eyes for a moment, and his steely grey eyes really stand out in the dim light, big and too tired looking to match an eight year olds face. 

“I’ve known Patton for a very long time,“ He hums. “and for as long as I’ve known him he hasn’t changed much personality wise. He knows more now, and can better react to situations where he would’ve reacted poorly in the past. He’s grown, but really? He’s still my best friend from second grade.“ 

Virgil doesn’t say anything for a bit, taking a few sips of his tea. “Logan said mother changed after I was born. That’s when she started being mean.“ 

Ah, so that’s what he means. Does he think because another kid is moving in Patton would change like that?

“I know it’s weird. Patton probably wouldn’t be like her.“ Virgil shrugs, hunching in on himself. 

“Your mother had more going on then we know about.“ He treads carefully. “But she was in an unfit situation to raise children, and that happens sometimes.” This is moving into dangerous territory, but it’s good for Virgil to have someone other than Patton or Logan to indulge in, Logan has enough on his mind and Patton, try as he might, can’t solve everything all at once. “Patton is a very patient man, and his priority is to take good care of you guys because your biological parents couldn’t.“ 

“My mother wasn’t patient.“ He states, then takes another drink of his tea to avoid talking further. 

“She wasn’t.“ Thomas agrees. “She wasn’t the nicest person alive either was she?” 

Virgil shakes his head. 

Thomas sips his tea, taking a glance at the clock. “Is there anything else you wanted to talk about?“ 

He shrugs, then shakes his head no, finishing the last of his tea, Thomas takes his cup and his own to the sink. “You wanna head up to bed then?“ 

He nods and hops off the stool, landing almost silently on the tiled floor he follows Thomas up the stairs. 

Virgil has a room of his own, but Logan’s bed has a pull out bed underneath his in case Virgil wants to sleep in there. Tonight though Virgil heads for his own room, grabbing his purple plaid blanket from the chair he drags it over to the bed, kicking the covers down. 

As he gets settled in Thomas pulls the covers back over him, smoothing them. “Goodnight Virgil, I’ll see you later okay?“ 

Virgil nods and signs goodnight. 

He flicks on the purple nightlight as he heads out, main light already out he leaves the door cracked. 

With that settled he peeks in on Logan, reminding him to put his book down and go to sleep before wishing him a good night and running into Patton on the way towards the stairs. 

“They all in bed?” 

Thomas nods. “Yeah, I just got Virgil down and told Logan to.“ 

Patton nods in return. “I’m gonna go tell them goodnight, we’ll catch up after.“ 

He nods and lets him past as he heads down into the kitchen. 

Patton comes down a few moments later, smiling softly. 

“So, anything new?“ Thomas asks, breaking the silence. 

He shrugs a little. “They’re all learning so fast, Remus can use sign now. Roman’s having a hard time understanding Virgil though. And doesn’t quite get it yet.“ 

“Roman is so extroverted he just doesn’t understand social exhaustion yet does he?“ Thomas chuckles. “Maybe there’s a better way to explain it to him.“ 

“Logan might be able to explain better than me.“ Patton titters with him. “I’m not the best at explaining things like that.” 

“Maybe.“ He hums. “Is everything working out with the social worker?“ 

“According to her I can go pick up Janus Friday, so everything’s working fine so far. I’m still a little nervous, I’m only one person and taking care of so many others seems big.“ 

“You’ve done amazingly with the four kids you have Pat, and you know me or Remy would come over to help in a heartbeat.“ He assures. “Janus is older, and probably little more self sustaining than the twins.“ 

“There’s going to be some emotional turmoil there too.. I hope the twins aren’t too much for him.“ He runs his hands together anxiously. 

“He has his own space, and they’ve done well with Logan and Virgil in terms of trying not to be overwhelming.“ He states. “But I know little kids aren’t everyone’s thing. And if it doesn’t work, at least you did your best.“ 

“Yeah...“ He nods, seeming to be content with that he shifts the conversation. “So, what about you?“ 

He moves about the kitchen with little purpose, before sitting across from Patton. “I had tea with Virgil tonight.“ 

“You think he’s going to cope okay?“

“I think so.“ He states simply. “He asked if you would change.“ 

“If I would change? Why would he ask that?“ Patton blinks. “I mean, I do my best to be consistent, but everyone has off days..“ 

“I think he knows that, but he’d said something about Logan telling him their mother changed when Virgil was born.“ He explains. “It was a reasonable question when you realize his mind is making connections to patterns that he’s already been through. Think of all the houses he’s been in, all of them changed in some way after the facade dropped.“ 

It’s difficult to make Patton angry, but one sure fire way is to take in kids for the money, and not because they need a home and a loving family. He’s enraged so many kids bounce around or get stuck in horrible situations because of greedy people like that. 

“I suppose that makes more sense...“ He sighs. “Im glad he could talk to you though.“ 

“Me too.“ 

“You can probably relate to his anxieties more anyway, and I know he has his brother, but he’s still just a kid.“ He rambles. “I’m still not sure what he likes even, Logan’s told me more than I’ve actually seen.“ 

“Being raised how he was he probably doesn’t understand he’s allowed to like things, he took what he got and didn’t complain.“ He assures. “Remus and Roman have helped with that a little haven’t they?“

He nods. “Earlier this week when we went shopping I had them pick out a toy, watching the twins choose one they liked seemed to make him realize he could do the same.“ Patton confirms. “It’s still a little difficult to guess what he likes.“ 

Thomas nods in understanding. “He’ll learn what he likes as you do, since now he has the ability to.“ 

He hums. “Yeah.. I suppose.“

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have some of this already written, so i’ll be posting a chapter maybe every other day until i reach the point i’m currently writing, then posting will probably slow down.


	2. Welcome Home Janus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Janus gets a nice welcome into what will hopefully be his new home.

Thomas spends the night so he can watch the kids while Patton goes to pick up Janus, and take him shopping to buy some new belongings. 

The twins are having a back and forth about what they think Janus will be like, while Logan seems more interested in whatever’s playing on tv, Virgil sitting beside him playing on Logan’s phone.

As much as Thomas can’t cook, he’s fairly good at making sandwiches, so he makes them for lunch.

They all ask for a different kind, which is fine, but also takes a bit more effort. 

Remus wants a peanut better and jelly, while Roman wants turkey mayo and cheese, Logan asks for ham and cheese and Virgil shrugs and takes a bit to decide on the same as Logan. 

He makes himself one and joins watches to make sure they keep the food at the table, letting them roam free once they’re done and have cleaned up their dishes. 

Roman and Remus has a bit of an impromptu play with some of their prince stuff, costumes, plastic swords, shields, and Thomas let them play so long as they aren’t hurting each other. 

Logan and Virgil have both been fairly quiet, at one point they’d been _too quiet_ and he’d found them both in Logan’s room putting together a puzzle. 

That was a big sigh of relief. 

There’s already been the talk of not bombarding Janus, and not immediately asking a whole ton of questions so he can get used to the place first, so the twins seem to come up with a solution of picking only the best questions, and asking a couple that seem more important. 

It’s really cute, and Thomas has a fun time watching them set their priorities while still being respectful towards their new brother. 

“Thomas, is Janus an adult?“ Roman pips, Remus stopping mid sentence to look up at him from where his sitting on the living room floor. 

“Not quite. “He laughs. “He’s a teenager, so almost an adult.“ 

“But he’s older than Logan and Logan talks with adults a lot! “ He huffs. 

“Logan is a teenager too, and you guys talk with adults all the time.“ He points out. 

“But not about adult things!“ Roman protests. 

“Like taxes!“ Remus adds. 

It takes a lot for Thomas not to laugh at that. “Logan doesn’t talk about taxes, he talks about what he learns from reading, just like you guys talk about the things on tv.“ He explains. 

Remus makes an _oh_ face before he’s back talking with Roman, sharing ideas it starts morphing more into Remus trying to gross his twin out more than picking the best questions to ask. 

Just as he starts getting a bit more gruesome the door opens and the twins hop up, knowing their pap is home. 

Janus is trailing behind Patton, carrying a worn backpack and dressed in worn clothes Patton is carrying a couple bags himself. 

“We’re home!“ Patton cheers, setting the bags down off to the side so he can hug the twins, who both take the opportunity to look over his shoulder at Janus. 

“Hi.“ Janus waves. 

Remus waves back, and Roman starts with the questions. 

“Roman, what did I say before I left?“ Patton warns gently. 

Roman puffs up his cheeks in a huff. “To wait until he got settled..“ He mumbles. 

“Good, go ahead and introduce yourself kiddo.“ 

Thomas feels a little sorry for Janus, since he’s obviously pretty overwhelmed, but it seems he’s finding amusement in it as well. 

When they’d first met Janus he seemed like the stereotypical mean snotty teen, but a little nudging and a bit of therapy and he’d admitted it was a front he put up because it warded off anyone trying to adopt him. 

He’d been adopted a couple times before being labeled a trouble maker and a lot of stuff happened. 

He’s doing better now, at least a little, and it was enough Patton was ready for him to move in. 

First impressions aside he’s a good kid, and Patton was determined to give him a good chance at redemption. 

“My name is Roman,“ 

“I’m Remus!“ 

The twins bow as they say their names, still wearing the prince costumes from earlier it’s _extremely adorable._

Janus smiles a bit hesitantly, nodding his head in a little mimic of a bow. “Janus.“ 

Remus turns and mutters in Roman’s ear and they both run off upstairs. 

Patton chuckles a little. 

Janus catches sight of him and waves a little. “Hey Thomas.“ 

“Hey.“ He greets. 

“Logan, Virgil, come here a moment.“ Patton calls, beckoning them from the living room. 

Virgil follows behind Logan, looking hesitant while Logan looks uninterested at most. 

“That’s Logan, and the one behind him is Virgil.“ Patton introduces. 

Logan nods curtly and heads back into the living room, Virgil, who’s holding onto his sleeve trails close behind. 

“Virgil may not talk at first, and don’t take Logan too personally, he’s not perfect with first impressions.“ Thomas assures after Janus blinks a little in confusion. 

“Right..“ He mumbles, knowing he’s not really one to talk about first impressions.

“Yeah, if he signs something and you don’t understand just ask Logan or Remus.“ 

“Or us!“ Patton adds. “We’re not perfect yet, but we’re learning and you’re welcome to try and learn along with us.“ 

“...That’s nice.” He states, choosing words carefully. “I’m sure I’ll catch on..“ 

“I can help you take your stuff up to your room and you can settle in while I start dinner? I’ll call you down when it’s ready, but we all eat at the table for dinner around six.“ Patton explains. 

“My room?“ He fumbles. “Uh.. I guess.“ 

Patton picks up the bags from before and leads him up to the newly set up room, it’s just the basics right now, but eventually Janus can sort it out and customize it to his liking. 

They mostly got clothes, but Patton urged him to get a few other things he wanted and they’re working on setting up his phone to their plan. 

“Alrighty, your room, you can kick anyone out of it, even me if you need. It’s your space.“ Patton sighs as he sets the bags down in the desk. “My room is on the very end, the room across from yours is the twins, as you could probably tell.“ The twins decorated the outside of their door, and it includes their names, it’d be hard to miss. “Logan’s room is to the left and Virgil’s is right across from his. The twins mainly use the bathroom on the right, so you could probably put your stuff in the left since Virgil and Logan are less likely to mess with anything.“ He lists, wanting to get basic warnings and routines down. 

“Bathroom downstairs is used by everyone. You have free access to anything in the kitchen at anytime, just don’t set the house on fire. And curfew is eleven, electronics are off at one a.m. for you, but if you want to be anywhere after eleven we can negotiate.“ 

“I don’t exactly have a car yet, Patton.“ He reminds with a chuckle. 

“You can still go places, and if you need a ride Thomas, me or Remy will be happy to take you.“ He assures. “Just please tell me if you go somewhere.“ 

“I will.“ He hums. 

Patton nods a little to show he heard. “The boys each wrote you a welcome card, and mine has phone numbers, address and such in it if you need.“ He points to the little pile of envelopes sitting on Janus’s nightstand, heading out towards the hall he leans on the doorframe. “Welcome home, Janus.“ 

Patton really hopes he wasn’t imagining the smile Janus had as he steps away to start dinner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope their characterization portrays correctly, i’m really trying to have them embody what they as sides represent but as humans..? i’m not great with kids so writing people who are is challenging lol.


	3. A Disruption Of Balance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It seems the change is a bit much for everyone, stress levels are high and he can’t resolve it on his own, so Patton calls for some help.

Janus spends the time while Patton is cooking in his room, which isn’t incredibly long, two hours at most. 

Thomas trudges back into the kitchen with a sigh, and Patton raises a brow at him. “Something happen?“ 

“Nothing huge, but Remus has been trying to gross out Roman by telling him gross facts and now Roman is trying to gargle soap.“ 

Patton laughs a little and Thomas rolls his eyes exasperatedly as he fights a smile. 

“Did you ask Remus to stop?“ 

“I told him to stop, yeah.“ He nods. “Sometimes it’s seriously hard to keep a straight face around your kids Patton.“ 

Patton laughs more at that. “True. But they’re half as much your kids as they are mine! You help so often.“ 

“Hey now, I’m not the one written on all their adoption papers.“ He defends in jest. 

“Does that matter though?“ Patton shakes his head in amusement. “Can you go get the twins and the duo? I’m gonna check on Janus.“ He wipes his hands down on a towel, turning off the stove. 

“Yup, I got em.“ He nods and heads off to do just that. 

Patton heads up the stairs and taps a knuckle on Janus’s door. 

“Janus kiddo, dinners ready.“ 

After a moment the door swings open, Janus has his phone in his hand and is wearing some of the clothes he’d picked out, a pair of black jeans and a black sweater with gold-yellow accents. 

Janus pockets his phone and follows Patton down to the dinner table, where Logan and Virgil sit separated from their usual seats, Virgil sitting beside where Patton would usually sit and leaving two seats in between them. 

Thomas steps out of the room and meets Patton halfway to be out of earshot. 

“Logan and Virgil apparently had a fight, I’d say let it cool down a little before trying to figure things out.“ He mutters. 

“Aw, no.. Do you know what it was about?” Patton whispers. 

He shakes his head. “Neither will say.“ 

“Okay.. I’ll wait until after dinner to talk to them, you think thats alright?“ He mutters. 

Thomas nods. “Who knows, by then it could work it’s self out.“ 

Patton knows they’ve had disagreements, like any friend or brother will, but this seems a little more serious.. 

Dinner is a little odd, the twins seems to be talking more to make up for the lack of chatter from Logan or Virgil, and Janus attempts to keep up with them while still working on his own bit of inner turmoil. 

Virgil doesn’t eat much, and considering tonight’s dinner is one of his favorite it concerns Patton. Last time he didn’t eat well was because his anxiety was making him sick, it took a while to sort that out since the doctors didn’t want to put him on anxiety meds so young, and instead said it would go away with therapy. 

Patton didn’t fully believe that, therapy could help, but it doesn’t just poof it away. Trauma does things, it scars. And sometimes scars can get better with time, but it helps to take care of them too. 

That whole mess had made Virgil worse, and Patton opted to try when he was a little older, and maybe able to understand a bit better. 

~ 

Thomas left that night, having to work the weekend. 

Virgil and Logan haven’t been interacting since then, the seemingly mutual agreement to let the other cool off has Virgil a mess. 

Patton doesn’t know how how to handle it, with Logan brushing him off and saying everything is fine and Virgil not talking or signing since Janus got here doesn’t give him any clues on how to help. 

Logan is good at masking his emotions, but Patton can tell the conflict is straining him too, he’s a little more snappy and less patient when people get on his nerves, and stays in his room more than not. 

One thing he can be thankful for is Remus being scarily in tune with others emotions, and he’s calmed Virgil from a threatening panic attack more than a couple times now, and while Virgil won’t let Patton close right now, Remus seems to be an exception. 

He’d asked the boy if he knew what the fight was about, Remus had shrugged and told him he hadn’t asked. 

Patton had assured Janus that none of it was his fault, and adjusting will be different and difficult for everyone. 

But even then he’d caved and called Remy to have him visit a few days earlier then they’d planned. 

_“Tuesday? Are you sure? I don’t want to overwhelm the poor thing.“_ He’d asked. 

“Please Remy? I know it’s kinda late notice but Virgil and Logan haven’t been talking to each other since Friday evening and Virgil hasn’t been communicating at all.. It’s eating them both up and I think they need something to ground them. They’re not coping well...“ 

_“I’ll be there at ten, mkay Pattoncakes? I’d come now if it wasn’t so late.“_

Patton looks up at the clock. 

It’s two am, he’s been deciding on whether or not to call for about an hour now. 

“Thank you.“ 

_“No problem, get some sleep babe, you can’t help if you aren’t healthy either.“_

“I’ll try. See you tomorrow.“ 

_“See you then.“_

Patton sighs as he ends the call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remy to the rescue! and if it wasn’t clear Janus arrived on friday, and Patton made the call late monday night (early tuesday morning?) either way, it’s clear the fight won’t resolve itself, and they won’t let him help.


	4. A Colorful Intervention

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remy comes over earlier then they’d planned to try and cut the tension, and makes a bit of a mess in the process.

Remy arrives just before breakfast, signature sunglasses and iced coffee he makes his entrance grand as usual, keys jingling as he moves to kneel and hug the twins. 

“Hey babes, what’s up?!“ He asks, ruffling Remus’s hair when he gets an odd look from him. 

He must’ve connected the dots, Remy was supposed to be here a couple days later. 

“Remy!“ Roman chirps. “Janus is here, we have another brother!“ 

He smiles, peering over the edge of his sunglasses. “Do you now? I guess I’ll have to meet him then.“ 

The twins pull him into the kitchen, where Janus and Patton are. 

“Hey Patton, and Janus, right?“ He asks. 

Janus nods. 

“I’m an old friend of Patton’s, my name’s Remy.“ 

The twins both tug on Remy’s sleeves, and he takes their hands. “So, what do you guys wanna do while your pap finishes up breakfast?“ 

~ 

Breakfast is odd to Remy, Logan is as silent as Virgil, and Virgil doesn’t eat more than he pushes his food around his plate, shifting in his seat he leaves the table early.

Remus is acting a little different as well but he can’t explain that. 

Remy waits a moment before following him into the living room, where he’s siting on the couch, arms tucked around his stomach. 

“Hey little spider, what’s up?“ He crouches so he’s eye level with the kid, and gets a tiny shrug in response. “You doing okay?“ 

Virgil nods absently, gazing past him and at the tv.

“Something wrong?“ He asks gently. “You didn’t eat much.“ 

He shakes his head no. 

He can’t force an answer from him, so instead he sits next to him, ruffling his hair affectionately. 

Virgil after a few moments seems to loose the tense body language, eyes fixed onto the tv. 

Remus joins them a bit later sitting on the other side of Remy, while Roman pads up the stairs after Logan and Janus do. 

After a couple episodes of some kids show that’s mildly entertaining at best Remus tugs on Remy’s sleeve, motioning for him to follow. 

He nods, telling Virgil he’ll be back in a minute and following Remus into the dining room out of earshot. 

“Virgey and Logan fought. And now they aren’t talking, but Virge is really scared he hurt Logan’s feelings and now he won’t eat and it’s getting worse!“ He rambles, keeping his voice low Remy can still clearly hear the distress in it. “He won’t let Pap help, and he goes panicky and starts breathing fast and I have to help, an-and he puked after dinner last night because his tummy is all wishy-washy and nervous.. And he made me swear I wouldn’t tell Pap or Lo-Lo!“ 

He kneels, putting his hands on Remus’s shoulders. “Hey, it’ll be okay. They’ll figure it out.“ He soothes, brushing tears away from the boys cheeks when they start to fall. “You’re very brave to help your brother for paps, you hear me? You and Roman have fought before, and you two made up right?“ 

Remus nods, scrubbing his eyes with the heel of his palm. “B-but they’ve never fought like this before...“ 

“Sometimes things happen and people can say things they don’t really mean or there can be a misunderstanding.“ He explains. “Me and your dad fought pretty badly a few times, but hey, we’re still good friends right?“

Remus nods again. 

“I’m sure things will work out, okay? I know things are a little weird right now, but it’ll be okay.“ He assures. “And it’s alright to be worried about your family, you know why Patton called me early don’t you?“ 

“ ‘cause he was worried..“ Remus sniffs and wraps his arms around Remy, Remy hugs him back. “Thank you Remy...“ 

“You’re welcome honey.“ He mumbles. “I’ll always be one call away you got that? I’ll always be there to help if you need.“ 

Remus nods against his shoulder before pulling away, wiping his face with his sleeves. 

He wants these kids to know it’s not just them and Patton against the world, and adults can ask for help too. It’s necessary, and sometimes it’s nice to know there’s someone else you can count on, lord knows it helped Remy, and he figures he’d repay the favor for someone else. 

He knows Thomas is there too, but Remy has a knack for being able to handle things calmly. 

After a bit of tear wiping and putting on a brave face Remus follows Remy back into the living room to sit with Virgil, at least for a bit. 

~ 

Remy starts an activity, simply letting them paint after laying down plastic to protect the dinning table, and letting them use their hands, get a little messy and have some fun. He even drags Janus into it, who Roman starts a bit of a competition with after he smears red paint on the teens arm, it’s turned into how many fingerprints can the other put on them. 

Patton almost steps in to stop them, but Remy shakes his head. _Let them make a mess, clothes can be washed._

Roman accidentally includes Remus after smearing some yellow on him reaching for more red, and Remus returns the favor by telling him his red paint looks like blood and painting a green hand smear across his twins face while he’s sidetracked with protesting. 

Virgil, who’s sitting between Remus and Janus is painting a purple-y black blob that’s starting to look a lot like a cloud when Remus reaches over and pokes him on the nose with a grin. 

Virgil’s eyes cross, scrunching his nose at the green paint left behind and reaching over to leave five little fingerprints over Remus’s cheek. 

While he isn’t looking Janus pokes Virgil in the cheek with some yellow, earning himself a frown and a purple-back blob shaped smear over his arm that he laughs at.

Roman leans across Logan and Remus to swipe Virgil’s cheek with two fingers, and Virgil grabs his arm, leaving winding smears of purple when Roman pulls his arm away with a shout. 

Remus avenges his brother with a thick glob of green over Virgil’s hand. 

Remus gets Logan while he’s telling Roman not to lean over him, leaving a nice green handprint over his mouth. 

Logan stops talking, looking displeased as he wipes it off his lips and gaining an idea at the paper plate with blue paint he’d previously been using to paint Neptune. 

Virgil, getting the same idea, dips his entire hand in the purple paint just as Logan does the blue. 

There’s a brief lock of eye contact before both plant their palms on either side of Remus’s face. 

Patton’s aw of pity turns into a laugh as he realizes Remy caught the moment on camera. 

Remus makes a strangled noise of protest, attempting to fight back with what paint remains on his hands but he ends up getting more green on Janus’s shirt than Virgil, misses Logan the first time, and give him a sticky, half dried hand print on his arm the second. 

Janus gets him when he turns back, smearing yellow across his cheek and nose. It starts to make a muddy brown where it meets the purple paint. 

While they besides Virgil, _who’s shoulders shake with silent laughter,_ laugh at Remus’s misfortune Roman take the chance, swiping his thumb through the plate of red and in a quick motion swipes it over Logan’s forehead with the chant of. 

“Simba!“ 

The twins both cackle at Logan’s disgruntled glare, and Virgil turns away to avoid laughing out loud. 

Janus huffs in amusement, glancing back to the adults, who are both laughing, Remy more so, he hands off his phone to Patton. 

Remy comes up behind Logan, hugging him and ruffling his hair. “Aw, Lo, you got a little somethin’ on your face.“ He then looks over at Remus, who’s decidedly more vandalized. “You too, Rem.“ 

With a deadpan expression, Logan blindly reaches up to Remy’s face, leaving a blue hand print on his cheek. 

“I’ll get you for that squirt!“ Remy gasps, swiping his finger through the blue pant and smearing it on Logan’s nose as the boy laughs and tries to squirm away. 

Roman plants a red handprint on Remy’s jaw, and he scoffs in mock offense as he picks up more paint on his fingers and smears it around on Roman’s cheek.

Sure, it might’ve messed up Remy’s makeup, but Logan’s laughter was so worth it after nothing but cold shoulders and curt replies, if he got any reply at all. 

And Virgil, finally expressing something other than anxiety since Remy’s been here. 

Even Janus and the twins had a lot of fun, hell Remy had fun. 

The atmosphere was really tense, and after a couple of days it must’ve been something pretty bad to disrupt the strong brotherly bond of those two. 

Remy just hopes his intervention helps.


	5. A Nightmare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remy only temporarily cut the tension, it may not fix the issue, but it does make room for what needs to be addressed. Sadly, the breakthrough is a bit messier then Remy would’ve liked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings?: Panic attack

After giving them all a good washing and tucking them into bed it leaves Patton and Remy in the kitchen, Patton doing dishes as Remy observes at first, before grabbing a dish towel and helping dry. 

“So, they actually looked at one another.. That’s a step in the right direction yeah?“ Remy says. 

“That was nice, as much as my floors dislike you I’m glad you got them to have some fun. It was fun to watch!“ Patton chuckles a little, but it fades. “Neither of them has told me a clue to what’s going on, and I feel so helpless because I can’t do anything..“ He sighs. 

Remy bumps him gently with his shoulder. “Hey now, be a little kinder to yourself Pattoncake. Taking care of other people is a task in and of its self, and you do that well. You’ve got to remember these boys aren’t as open as the twins, nor as young.“ He hums. “Teaching them to work out problems will take as long as it would to work out one of your own, plus more.“ 

Saying it that way makes it sound simple, maybe not easier, but it really makes it seem like Patton is doing his best. 

He is trying his best! He just doesn’t feel like it’s working.

The stairs creek, and both of their attention is drawn to Janus, who’s descending them. 

“Hey kiddo, it’s pretty late..“ Patton says. 

It’s around two am, so yeah, pretty late is an but of an understatement. 

“Sorry, I couldn’t sleep.“ He mutters. 

The things about Janus is he used to lie, mainly about random things, but also about himself, and while they’d worked through it a little Janus still seems to have his moments where he just, doesn’t seem to realize he can tell the truth? 

Patton raises a brow, but the boy doesn’t seem to be lying. “You can watch tv for a while if you’d like, just don’t have the volume too loud.“ 

Janus nods a little and heads into the living room. 

“Speaking of, I should probably head to bed myself..“ Patton yawns. All this extra is leading to him staying up later, and getting less sleep. 

Whatever Remy is about to say is interrupted by a small set of footsteps padding quickly down the stairs. 

Virgil stands hesitantly in the doorway, tear tracks on his cheeks and disheveled he quickly seems to lose what his purpose of coming down here was, as he looks between Remy and Patton.

Patton steps forward, about to ask what’s wrong or attempt to sooth, something. 

He takes a couple steps back, as if to flee the other way. 

“Woah, hey sweetie what’s wrong?“ Remy soothes, stepping forward when Patton visibly hesitates. 

Virgil hesitated at the sight of Patton... did he do something wrong? 

Virgil sniffs and stays in place, now that he’s closer Remy can see the boy is shaking. 

He starts signing, too fast for Patton to keep up, but Remy took multiple asl classes in high school, and his memory’s been jogged when he’d met Virgil. 

A few of the signs are improvised, but they still make sense, and Remy kneels so he isn’t looming over the kid. 

The gist of it is, Virgil had a bad nightmare but didn’t want to go to Logan because he’s mad at him, and part of his nightmare was about Logan.

The way he describes it, it has to have been bad as his breathing picks up just recalling it. 

“Honey, slow down. You need to breath, can you take a deep breath for me?“ Remy asks, taking the boys hands in his own he rubs his thumbs over his knuckles. 

Virgil tried, fails, and shakes his head no. 

He’s hyperventilating, hiccuping on his own breathing and shaking badly enough he can hardly sign. 

Remy can understand it enough. 

He’s saying he can’t breath. 

“You can. You can, you’re okay. Take a deep breath babe.“ He pulls Virgil against him, rubbing circles in his back in hopes of grounding him. “Slow down. It’s okay..“ 

It takes Remy over thirty minutes to calm him down.

Patton attempts to help but Virgil shakes his head and backs away from both of them when he gets close, and progress was lost. 

Janus minds his business the best a nosy teen can, but Remy sees him look back at the kid with sympathy a couple of times. 

He finally is breathing in some semblance of normal, breath hitching every once in a while. Remy ruffles his hair as he gives Virgil space, again taking his hands gently and running his thumbs over his knuckles. 

“Can you tell me what happened between you and Logan?“ He asks softly. 

Virgil nods shakily, and after a moment takes his hands from Remy to sign. 

Logan and him fought over a lot, mainly why no one else wanted to keep them, and Virgil said something about Logan not helping him convince people they were adoptable, and it got personal.. Logan had fired back that he was the problem, because of his anxiety, and Virgil had retorted with something along the lines of wishing Logan and him had split up when they were removed from the house. 

He didn’t mean it, but when he tried to apologize the next day Logan was still upset. Even Virgil knew he wasn’t as angry as he was hurt. 

They’d both hurt each others feelings pretty bad, but Virgil’s nightmares have tipped him over the edge, and he’s worried Logan will stay upset with him. 

Remy thinks they both owe each other an apology, and knows Virgil only said that to begin with because Logan had hurt him, but that doesn’t make it okay. 

He’s glad Virgil knows that his actions weren’t okay, now it’s just a matter of having them fix it. Sometimes things like this require a little help.

“Do you want me to talk with Logan? You can wait down here while I see if he’s ready to talk?“ He offers as he stands. 

After a moment Virgil signs a yes. 

“You can go sit with Janus if you’d like? And maybe your paps will make you some tea.” 

Virgil nods then signs tea questioningly. 

“Yeah, tea. You want some?“ He asks. 

After a moment he asks if Patton is mad at him. 

“I don’t think he’s mad at you sweetie, he just doesn’t understand why you wouldn’t let him help.“ He crouches, rubbing a comforting hand up and down his arm. “I can ask him for you, if that’s better? I’ll tell him it wasn’t at him, mkay?“ 

He signs thank you, and slowly makes his way into the the living room. 

He sits next to Janus, who’s watching some house repair thing that’s just entertaining enough to keep his attention. 

There’s a couple of spiders on screen as they compare a species they found inside one of the walls, and Virgil must look interested because it prompts Janus to ask. 

“You like spiders right?“ He peers down curiously at the kid next to him, having remembered the spider in Virgil’s card and now his interest in the ones on screen. 

After a second to think over the question Virgil nods shyly. 

That’s about the most interaction he’s gotten out of Virgil thus far. 

“Spiders are cool, but I prefer snakes. They have cool scales.“ Janus hums. 

Virgil looks up at him in awe for a moment before twirling his thumbs in his lap. The next time the spiders come on screen he points to the screen then crosses his wrists over one another, wiggling his fingers. He looks up at Janus to see if he understands. 

“Is that.. The sign for spider?“ He guesses. 

Virgil nods, repeating it Janus copies him. 

“Huh, is there a sign for snake?“ He asks curiously, knowing some words need to be finger spelled. 

To his delight, there is, Virgil confirms with a nod. 

He holds up his pointer and middle fingers, curling them slightly and moving it in a slithering motion away from his face.

Janus smiles, huffing in amusement as he repeats the sign. 

Patton comes down the stairs, ruffling Virgil’s hair once he’s close enough. “Hey kiddo.“ He pulls him close enough to kiss his temple when he doesn’t seem uncomfortable. “I’m gonna make you some tea alright? Janus do you want any?“ 

“Uh, what kind?“ 

“There’s a few different ones, but I’m making chamomile for me and Virgil.“ And Logan, but he figures he can leave that bit out for now. 

“I’ll take that then..“ He murmurs. 

Patton nods then heads off into the kitchen. 

Virgil points to the tv, where the refurbished house is displayed, and Janus correctly guesses the sign as the sign for house. 

This continues, even after Patton joins them in the living room and hands them their tea. 

Janus will ask what the sign is for something, and Virgil will sign it if there is one, with Virgil picking random things to teach him, where he has to guess a little. 

Then Remy comes down a couple minutes later. 

“Virgil kid, Logan’s ready to talk when you are.“ 

Virgil hops up and follows after Remy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this one was posted a couple days later then i’d meant.. i swear last time i looked it was the 24th and now it’s the 29th, i have zero concept of time. fair warning there’s going to be a pov switch next chapter, it’ll follow Remy after calming down Virgil.
> 
> i was more nervous posting this because it’s usually after a big plot moment that my writing tends to go downhill, i’m trying not to do that this time. constructive criticism is welcome!


	6. Forgiveness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan’s awake, and realizing his mistakes.

Remy dusts himself off as he stands and smooths his clothing, knowing there’s tear stains on his sweater and frankly not caring. He heads up to Patton’s room, knocking twice on the door with his knuckle as he opens it. 

“You awake Pat?“ 

“Hey, is Virgil okay?“ He asks, standing. 

“He will be. That was a nasty attack.“ He shakes his head. 

“Are you sure?“ He asks hastily. “I didn’t cause more problems did I?“ 

Remy puts a hand on his shoulder, squeezing lightly. “Go make him some tea, tell him you’re not upset with him for going to me. Give him space, but make sure he knows he’s loved.“ He states briefly, shooing him. “Go be a father, I’m gonna talk with Logan if he’s awake.“ 

Patton nods and whispers a quick thanks as he hurried past and down the hall to the stairs. 

He takes a moment, sorting his thoughts as he reaches Logan’s door, knocking twice. 

“Lo? You awake?“ He asks. 

“Yeah..“ Logan’s voice wavers a bit when he speaks, and Remy frowns a bit. 

“Can I come in?“ 

There’s a couple seconds where he thinks Logan is going to say no, but the door unlatches and he swings it open when Logan doesn’t. 

The room is dark, but the blue nightlight is enough to see. Logan is sitting on the edge of his bed, tears slide down his cheeks, and probably have been for a bit before Remy came in. 

“Remy, I’m so stupid..“ He sobs, rubbing the heel of his hand under his glasses. “What I said was stupid. I don’t mean it, I know Virgil doesn’t do it on purpose- but I said his anxiety made it impossible for us to stay in a family! Who says something like that to a kid?“ He chokes on his words, and Remy hums a little. 

“Come here,“ He pulls Logan into a hug, letting the boy cry on his shoulder much like his brother had done a bit ago. “You’re alright, you’re allowed to cry kid, stuff happens.“ He plucks Logan’s glasses off his face, tossing them onto the bed. “Let it out.” 

“I’m a horrible brother, I quit talking to him and he- he just.. I made it so much worse...“ He shudders, slightly muffled by Remy’s sweater. “I don’t know what to do, I didn’t even let him apologize, god what did I do..?“ 

“You’re not a horrible brother Lo, what you said hurt, yes. And you probably shouldn’t have said it, but sometimes emotions get the best of us.” He says. “You made a mistake, and I think an apology on both your behalf’s is in order.“ 

“He already tried, and I pushed him away!“ He half whispers, not wanting to disturb anyone sleeping. “He probably thinks I hate him-“ 

Remy opens his mouth to stop that spiral of thoughts but Logan does it himself. 

“He was already stressed enough having Janus move in, why did I do that? I could’ve de-escalated the whole thing but I didn’t because I was annoyed-“ 

“You can’t change what you’ve already done Lo, you can learn from it, but I could’ves aren’t going to get you anywhere right now.“ He explains. “You need to apologize first off, and try not to beat yourself up to much for letting your emotions slip, this is all a lot, and it can be overwhelming.“ 

“That’s not an excuse! I was horrible to him, my little brother, the one I’m supposed to protect!“ His voice breaks, and Remy continues the circles in his back until he pulls away. “Where- Is Virgil awake?“ 

“Yes, he’s awake. He’s downstairs at the moment.“ He holds a hand up to keep him from immediately rushing past. “I just worked him down from a panic attack, and it was a pretty bad one, Janus and Patton are down there with him but I think it’d be easier if I brought him up here.“ 

“How bad?“ Logan asks. “How bad was-?“ 

“Almost forty minutes.“ He answers truthfully. “He had a nightmare, and it progressed from there.” 

Logan covers his mouth with his hand. “I did.. I did that- he-“ 

“Logan, honey breath. He’s better now, and that nightmare had him freaked out.“ He soothes. “He’s alright, I made sure of it.“ 

“He wouldn’t let Patton help would he?“ 

He shakes his head. 

“It’s because of something I said, I’m sorry-“ He sniffs a little, trying to clean up his face with his sleeve. 

“Do you want me to go get Virgil now?“ He asks. 

Logan nods. “Please.“ 

Remy pats him on the shoulder before he leaves to go fetch him. 

~ 

Virgil follows Remy up the stairs, chewing his thumbnail as the reach the doorway to Logan’s room. Remy guides him in with a hand on his shoulder and lets them have their privacy, closing the door.

“Spidey, I’m so sorry- I was stupid and said things I shouldn’t have, I shouldn’t have done that.. I’m sorry I hurt you.“ Logan apologies, eyes under his glasses red and puffy telling he’s been crying. 

Not that Virgil hasn’t been. 

He abruptly grabs Logan around the middle, and Logan hugs back after the initial shock of it fades. 

“‘m sorry Pluto.. ‘ didn’t mean it, promise.“ He mumbles. 

“I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you, I know you tried to apologize before.. It was a failure on my part to ignore you.“ He sighs, hugging tighter. “I regret it, I wasn’t thinking..“ 

“I’s okay..“ 

“It shouldn’t be, I made you sick because you were worried.“ He crouches so he can properly hug his brother. 

“It’s okay now.“ Virgil mutters. 

“Yeah..“ He breaths. “It’s okay now.“ 

~ 

Remy quietly backs away from the door, heading downstairs and skipping the step that creaks. 

“Hey, guess what?“ He asks as Patton walks up to him. 

Patton stares at him for a moment and Remy shakes his head in some form of disbelief. 

“They’re fine.“ He assures. “Whole tearful apology and everything.“ 

“Oh thank goodness..“ Patton sighs, shoulders dropping in relief. “Thank you Remy, you’re a life saver.“ 

“ You so owe me a coffee. “ He crosses his arms, fully joking though he knows Patton will likely buy him a coffee anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> after this it should be back to our regularly scheduled shenanigans, at least for a while until i come up with another angsty scene.  
> i hope you signed up for silly family interaction because that’s what i’m hopefully delivering.


	7. A Break

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Before the turmoil Remy had planned for them to have a outing to give them something to do, but he didn’t want to take them somewhere when they’re weren’t on good terms. Luckily that’s been sorted now and gives room for some fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warnings?: spiders?

The next day is much better. 

The tension between the two middle brothers is gone, they sit next to each other durning breakfast and Virgil signs while Logan talks. Virgil doesn’t finish his food, but at least he eats a little. 

The twins are happier with their brothers no longer upset at each other, playing a game to see how many times they can jinx each other that continues after breakfast is finished. 

Janus seems more at ease, making light hearted yet sarcastic comments when the twins bet him on things and talk stories, asking Logan a few questions about their conversations. 

Patton had a little conversation with Janus when Virgil went upstairs, and he thinks that helped. 

Patton is clearly relieved it’s been sorted out, and makes Remy coffee before they sit down for breakfast.

Now, the plan was have Remy stay for a couple days, and take the kids out to do something fun. 

With the tension Patton wasn’t sure he wanted to anymore, but now that it’s been smoothed over its Remy’s time to surprise them with a fun outing. 

~ 

It’d been a positive response, telling them they were going to the zoo.

The twins seemed the most exited, asking question on question before running off upstairs to do who knows what. Logan had simply asked which zoo they were going to, while Virgil and Janus had similar responses of mild interest. 

Thomas is coming with them, just for extra adult supervision. 

~ 

The van is fairly packed, and there’s been an unfortunate seating placement with Virgil in between the twins in the middle seats, and Janus, Logan and Thomas in the very back. Patton is driving with Remy in the passengers seat. 

They quickly realize they should’ve put the adult between the twins, and after some screaming and yelling, they stop at as gas station halfway to swap. 

It ends up, Janus, Logan, Virgil in the very back, Roman, Thomas, Remus in the middle and the same up front. 

~ 

They reach their destination and the three from the middle fight to get out the door first. 

“Thomas, you could’ve just-“ 

“Nope, I’m victorious.“ He states, holding Remus up under the armpits like a trophy. “I defeated the royal family. This is my loot, their duke.“ 

Remus giggles as Roman clings to Thomas’s legs. 

Remy snickers, helping Virgil and Logan out of the van. “It looks more like you’ve been captured than you winning gurl..“ 

“Shhh, I’m winning.“ Thomas whispers. 

“Believe what you want.“ Remy shrugs, stirring the ice in his drink with the straw. 

“Okay, who’s pairing with who?“ Patton asks. 

They have a pairing system to make sure there’s eyes on all younger children liable to get lost or wander. 

“I want Thomas!“ Roman claims. 

“I want Paps!“ Remus sings, making grabby hands at Patton until he’s put down. 

That leaves Logan and Virgil to Remy, who doesnt mind and takes Virgil’s hand as they cross the parking lot. 

“So, what should we go see first?“ Thomas asks. 

“Sharks!“ Remus chirps just as Roman says “Lions!“. 

“Ah, maybe we should get a map and see what’s closest.“ Patton chuckles, Remy paying for their passes and helping the littler ones to get their hands stamped. 

Virgil tenses as they enter, being crowded by so many people, Remy and Logan notice, moving to stand between him and all the strangers around. 

They get a couple maps and sit down at a table to sort out the places to go to first. 

Lions and Sharks are more near the back of the park, but Logan points out a bird exhibit and Patton wants to look at the penguins. 

Janus after some prompting and some shifting around the subject, eventually decides he would like to see the reptiles. 

And Remy, leans down a bit so Virgil can see his map. “I’d bet I can guess where you’d like to go hm?“ He whispers, pointing to a little picture of a tarantula, with the words arachnid exhibit printed above it. 

Virgil nods shyly, but glances over pointedly at Patton. 

“Your Paps doesn’t have to come in with us if he doesn’t want to, but if you’d like to see them we can okay?“ He assures. 

Virgil nods, tracing his finger over the map lightly before pulling his hands away. 

Remy nods back, and continues to check over the different places to go. 

After a bit of rearranging, they decide to split off and meet back up in the reptiles. 

Remy and Thomas are going to take Janus, Remus and Virgil to the new arachnid exhibit, while Patton takes Logan and Roman to see the birds. 

Virgil doesn’t want to split from Logan, but he also doesn’t want to speak up about it. And he’s sure he’ll be fine with Remus and Remy. 

He worries a bit they’ll accidentally get split up and lost, but there’s adults with everyone, it should be fine.. 

He has to keep telling himself that. 

He holds Remy’s hand, lightly at first but Remy squeezes and he squeezes back as they start moving. 

He’s regretting his decision to leave without Logan, but it gets a little better once there inside, and can see some of the critters. 

A vibrant colbolt blue catches his eye and they move toward it to look. 

Just as he’s taken in the pretty spider, he notices two of the workers taking out another, and announce that they’re allowing people to hold it as long as they’re sitting down. 

Thomas notices the announcement, and crouches to ask. “Hey Virge, you wanna hold one?“ 

He nods. 

Duh, his nickname isn’t spidey for no reason. 

“I want to too!“ Remus bounces on the balls of he feet, tugging on Remy’s sleeve. 

Remy chuckles. “Alright, but just so you know, I’m not holding it.“ He stands up straight, looking to Janus. “What about you, you interested?“ 

“Sure.“ Janus shrugs. 

They head over, and it seems they’re one of the only ones that are brave enough to try, seeing as a lot of people are afraid of spiders it’s not too surprising. 

Remy sits them down where the workers instruct, and the one with the tarantula crouches next to Remus. 

“Now remember, you can’t drop it or you’ll hurt it alright? If you want me to take it back just tell me okay?“ She informs, and Remus nods. “Are you ready?“ 

“Yup!“ He chirps. 

She takes his hands and lets it crawl from her hands to his. 

Remy shudders. No thank you. 

Thomas laughs at him, like Thomas would actually want to hold one either, the hypocrite. 

“You sure you can handle it Virge? That’s a really big spider..“ He half teases, knowing full well he himself doesn’t have the guts to. 

Virgil nods confidently. 

Ah well, good for him. 

Virgil signs towards him, asking what kind it is, but the guy working seems to understand as well, and signs along as he answers. 

“ It’s a pink toed tarantula, they’re usually calmer than most so they’re suitable for small amounts of handling! “ 

Remy’s glad to see someone who knows sign, it’s a rare thing to see but it’s nice, and he doesn’t have to translate. 

Remus giggles as it crawls over his hands, and the women shows him how to let it crawl without crawling off his hands. 

“I call my brother spider because he acts like a spider, and he likes them.“ Remus states, motioning to Virgil. 

“Oh really? That’s interesting!“ The women muses. “Would you like to let the tarantula crawl onto your brother?“ 

She helps him transfer the eight legged creature onto Virgils hands. 

Virgil seems entirely fascinated by the thing, and Remy doesn’t know if he’s ever seen Virgil openly express this much interest in anything before. 

The spider eventually gets transferred to Janus, who smiles a little and tilts it up at Remy. “You wanna hold it?“ 

“Gurl no, I’m good..” He nods warily, stepping back. 

Janus huffs in amusement. “It’s cool.” 

“It’s even cooler not crawling on me, thanks.” Remy assures, and Thomas laughs at the comment. 

Hell if anyone thinks Remy will voluntarily let one of those things latch onto him with its little hook feet, na-ah, he’s fine from a distance. 

The worker lady chuckles a bit, as does Remus. 

After a moment the tarantula is taken back and Remy makes conversation with the workers as the four of them wander to check out the other exhibits. 

Remus and Virgil are staying together, though it’s mostly Virgil following Remus around Remus is careful to let Virgil pick which they look at and stay close when Virgil moves to a different enclosure. 

Thomas is keeping a close eye on those two. 

“Ah, so you’re kinda babysitting? I get that, I used to bring my little cousins here while their moms went out every once in a while.“ She hums. “Though it was hard to wrangle them all, they were younger than these guys.“ 

“Yeah, my friends taking the other two to see the birds, he has arachnophobia, but these guys love creepy crawlers so we decided to split up and cover a bit more ground.“ He shrugs. 

“Is the one mute or does he struggle with speech?“ She asks. “You don’t have to answer if that’s intruding, but I’m curious..” 

“He’s selective mute, but lucky enough I took asl for a while back in high school so it kinda worked out.“ 

“The zoo was kinda worried they’d hired a translator for nothing since not many of their customers use asl or bsl, but I don’t think they need to worry about that. Even if they can make one person feel more welcome than I think it’s worth it.“ She adds, nodding to where the second worker and Remus have started signing the word spider over and over. 

Remus somehow encourages Virgil and Janus, and Thomas to join, and soon they’re all five just chanting ‘spider’ in sign. 

“It’s nice to see them attempting to be more inclusive.“ He agrees.

“Well, you and your group have a nice day now! It was nice meeting you bunch!“ 

“Thanks gurl! And to you too sweetie!“ He waves, gathering the children as they make towards the exit. 

“I wanna see the sharks! Can we go now? I wanna see them!“ Remus tugs on Remy’s sleeve insistently. 

“We’ve already planned to meet your paps at the reptiles, remember? We’re going to go see the snakes and lizards.“ He reminds. “We’re going to the aquatic wing later. “ Thomas flashes Remy a look, but Remy seems to have it covered. 

“But I wanna go now!“ He whines. 

“How’s this, how about we check the times on the map and see when they’re doing the feedings, do you want to watch the shark get fed?“ 

Remus nods. 

“Okay, let’s sit for a minute.“ He guides Virgil and Remus over to a bench and Thomas and Janus follow.

He pulls out the map, scanning over it before he finds what he’s looking for. “See? They feed them at noon, right now it’s only ten twenty.“ He explains. “We have one hour and forty minutes before we can see them be fed.“ 

“Oh...“ He mutters. “That’s as long as a movie.“ 

“Yeah kinda, but in between that we’re planning to look at the reptiles and get lunch. Does that sound okay?“ Thomas asks. 

“Mhm..“ 

“Mkay babe, lets go meet your paps now alright?” He stands them up, taking Virgil’s hand Remus circles them to hold Virgil’s other hand. “Stay together, that means you too, Janus.“ 

Janus huffs, but follows alongside easily, there was only once where Remus has tried to wander off but Virgil tugged him back with a frown and he relented. 

They make it to the entrance of the reptiles where Patton Logan and Roman are just walking up as well. 

Roman and Remus meet in the middle to talk excitedly about what they saw and got to do, and Logan moves to stand beside Virgil, ruffling his hair as Virgil signs to him. 

Mostly stuff like them colbolt blue looked more purple, and he got to hold a pink toe, and it was cute, and Logan in turn signs about the birds he got to see, which apparently included a red tailed hawk. 

“They got to hold one?“ Patton asks, having picked it up from the twins conversation. 

Remy nods. “Me and Thomas didn’t, but the boys did and,“ He moves closer so he can’t be over heard. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen Virgil that exited, I got pictures.” 

Patton smiles. “You’ll have to show me later.“ 

“Even if they have a spider in it?“

“Even if they have a spider in it.“ Patton sighs. “Because my kiddos are in those pictures too.“ 

~ 

The reptiles were fine, Janus and Virgil did wander off a little, but they feel they can trust Janus enough with Virgil to be just out of sight with him for a minute or two. 

Lunch was nice, with minimal fighting over fries from the twins. 

There was only one incident where Remus tried to jump into a fountain, but luckily Virgil has good enough reflexes and enough self discipline to realize that was a bad move, and yanked him away by the back of his shirt before he could land in it. 

Remus pouted at him for ruining his fun, and Patton thanked him for not making them take home a soaked kid in his van. 

Remus lacks self control, but lucky for the adults, Virgil seems to be his control, and it kinda works the other way around too, with Remus being bold and loud it gives Virgil enough confidence to do things as well. 

Patton has found, when Virgil is somewhere he’s comfortable, he’ll act kinda similar to Remus, actually. 

They’re a nightmare during games like hide and seek because of this. With Virgil willing to climb just about anywhere and Remus so willing to do the same, Patton’s probably had a couple heart attacks just from those two alone. 

The shark feeding was cool, and while Patton and Roman were a bit disinterested it was still fun. 

Lions were cool too, though Virgil wasn’t as interested the others were.

They also get to see some of the other animals that weren’t voted on, so win win? 

It gets late quickly, and they get to roam around a bit as they head back towards the entrance of the place. 

The kids are worn, and they get fast food on the way home so by the time they’re there not only the children but most of the adults are full, and tired. 

They’d dropped Thomas off at his place, but Remy decides to crash at Patton’s

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i’m so sorry for the delay in posting! my family and i moved, and didn’t have internet for a while. besides that, i’ve been focused on some other things i’m writing that i may or may not post, and i’m not exactly sure where i’m going to take this..
> 
> i’m thinking i’ll start to bring a bit more lgbtq+ stuff into this? something like gender fluid Janus or maybe some he/they/it kind of pronouns for Logan and Virgil? as they get older and more into school age, of course, i’d try and ease into it a bit so it seems more realistic. think i should? 
> 
> it wasn’t in my original plan, because i didn’t think i’d get this far.. lmao. but i bring it into most of my other writing, why not this one?

**Author's Note:**

> i feel like there might be some pacing mistakes but i don’t know how to fix it? i’d appreciate it if you could point out any inconsistencies and or places where the story progresses too slow or too fast, constructive criticism and all that. 
> 
> im hesitant to post my writing anywhere, so thank you for reading and i hope you can enjoy this as it continues! 
> 
> also i might not respond to comments (i’ll try) but i promise i read them and it makes my day


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